The Knight (Hollow Knight)
The Knight '''is the player character and protagonist of '''Hollow Knight. It is one of the Pale King's many failed Vessels, now wandering the ruins of Hallownest. Background The Knight is a Vessel created as part of the Pale King's experiments with Void. It and its Siblings were created to contain The Radiance by being void of mind, therefore being incapable of being controlled. After The Hollow Knight was chosen for this task, The Knight and the other flawed Vessels were sealed in The Abyss to be forgotten. However, as Hallownest faded away, The Knight and others in The Abyss escaped somehow. The Knight went out to wander in the wilderness outside of Hallownest's domain, eventually returning to the fallen kingdom and becoming tasked with either prolonging Hallownest's stasis or ending it entirely by destroying The Radiance. Stats Attack Potency: Wall Level (Defeated the False Knight, who shattered a bridge) | Likely much higher than its base form (Implied to begin wreaking havoc on Hallownest after the Embrace The Void ending) Speed: Below Average combat speed due to size, Faster Than Light reaction speed (Can dodge beams of light from the Crystal Guardian and The Radiance) Durability: Wall Level (Scaling to Attack Potency) | Likely much higher Hax: Soul Manipulation (Drains Soul from living things through physical attacks), Absorption (Using Focus can drain the powers of other beings, such as The Dreamers), Darkness Manipulation (Through control over Void w/ the Void Heart), Statistics Amplification (Charms like Fury of the Fallen increase its attack power), Intangibility (Shade Cloak allows The Knight to pass through enemies and certain barriers), Acid Resistance (Isma's Tear repels acid from The Knight's body), Dream Manipulation (w/ the Dream Nail) Intelligence: Average (Capable of solving simple puzzles. Is a skilled duelist with its Nail and Spells) Stamina: Very high (Travels across the ruins of Hallownest without tiring, battles many challenging bosses in lengthy encounters) Powers, Techniques, and Equipment Powers * Regeneration: By channeling Soul drained from its enemies through physical strikes, The Knight can heal itself and its wounds. * Mind Reading: '''Striking enemies with the Dream Nail allows The Knight to read their thoughts and/or access their memories. * '''Worldsense: '''A full sense of Hallownest's state of being acquired in the Temple of the Black Egg. The Knight can sense where it has yet to go or what it has yet to do in the world. * '''Void Manipulation: '''With the Void Heart Charm, The Knight "unifies the Void under its control." This allows it to pacify the Siblings, summon the Void to its aid in the Dream No More ending, and transform into its ultimate form. ** '''Shade: The Knight's "true" form beneath its shell. All Vessels contain a Shade, and The Knight's acts like all the others do: it attacks other forms of life, as a being made of Void will do. It has the same Nail and Spells as The Knight, with the one major difference being that it attacks without discretion and more instinctively. Also, it can sprout several Void tendrils to whip enemies. ** Shade Lord/Void Given Focus: '''The giant form that The Knight assumes at the end of its battle against the Absolute Radiance. A godlike being made up of pure Void, it has multiple arms that it rips foes to shreds with, as well as dozens of Void tendrils that whip and lash violently. It can travel between the dream world and the real world by seeping through a bug's body. Techniques * '''Focus: '''The technique used by The Knight to 'focus' Soul and heal damage it's taken. Takes time to execute, leaving The Knight vulnerable when in use. * '''Vengeful Spirit: '''A Spell that blasts a large white spirit in front of The Knight, damaging enemies it passes over and stopping when it hits a solid wall. * '''Desolate Dive: '''A Spell that The Knight can use to slam down to the ground with immense force, breaking through fragile platforms and damage enemies caught underneath it. * '''Howling Wraiths: '''A Spell that unleashes a cloud of screeching spirits above The Knight in a cone-like shape, damaging enemies repeatedly and destroying projectiles if they are caught in its area of effect. * '''Shade Soul: '''A Void-infused Spell that blasts a larger and more powerful spirit than its weaker incarnation, no longer stopping for walls and passing through/damaging everything in its path. * '''Dark Descent: '''A Void-infused Spell with a larger splash effect on impact with the ground, as well as brief invincibility when using it. * '''Abyss Shriek: '''A Void-infused Spell with a bigger area of effect and higher damage output than its weaker variant. * '''Dreamgate: '''A ring of Essence that can be placed anywhere with a connection to the dream world with the Dream Nail. The Knight can have on Dreamgate active at a time. The Dreamgate can be used to teleport to its location from anywhere in Hallownest that's connected to the dream world. * '''Cyclone Slash: '''One of the Nail Arts, taught to The Knight by Nailmaster Mato. It's a spinning slash that involves The Knight swinging its outstretched Nail in a circle several times. * '''Dash Slash: '''One of the Nail Arts, taught to The Knight by Nailmaster Oro. It's a wide-reaching slash executed at the end of a dash. * '''Great Slash: '''One of the Nail Arts, taught to The Knight by Nailmaster Sheo. It's a huge slash in front of The Knight that covers more horizontal and vertical area than a simple attack. Equipment * '''Nails: '''The Knight's primary weapons for close combat. Wielded like a blade. The Knight's Nail undergoes several enhancements throughout its adventure through reforging it with Pure Ore. Its strength increases the more it gets reforged. From weakest to strongest, its forms are: Old Nail, Sharpened Nail, Channeled Nail, Coiled Nail, and Pure Nail. ** '''Dream Nail/Awakened Dream Nail: '''A special Nail given to The Knight by Seer, the last of the moth tribe. Using it allows The Knight to read the thoughts and minds of other bugs, as well as cut into the dream world to access forgotten memories or lingering spirits. * '''Charms: '''Beneficial trinkets that The Knight can equip at benches. In terms of their origins, some are forged from other items, some are parts of other bugs' corpses, and others are created by the dying wishes of some bugs. A full list of Charms used by The Knight and their effects can be found here. * '''Mothwing Cloak: '''A cloak taken from the corpse of another Vessel. It allows The Knight to use a dash for extra speed and mobility, both on the ground and in the air. * '''Mantis Claw: '''A sharpened mantis claw that The Knight digs into walls, allowing it to slide down them and perform wall jumps to maneuver around better. * '''Crystal Heart: '''The energy core of a mining golem in Crystal Peak. Bursting with energy, it allows The Knight to charge up crystal power before launching forward with great speed. The force of this super-dash is so great that The Knight can fly across any gap indefinitely until it hits a wall or an enemy. * '''Monarch Wings: '''A set of retractable wings that not only allow The Knight to jump in midair but are capable whipping up winds strong enough to stop The Knight in its tracks. * '''Isma's Tear: '''A fruit formed from the hardened tears of Kindly Isma, one of Hallownest's Five Great Knights. It repels acid from The Knight's body upon ingestion, keeping it safe when swimming in pools of the dangerous substance. * '''Shade Cloak: '''A Void-formed cloak that allows The Knight to perform a Void-based dash. Unlike the Mothwing Cloak, this dash allows The Knight to pass through Void barriers and other bugs without touching them, allowing for safer movement. * '''King's Brand: '''A fork-shaped mark obtained in the corpse of the Pale King's previous body. With it, The Knight is marked as the new king of Hallownest, and it can access locked-away areas like The Abyss. Key '''Base | Shade Lord/Void Given Focus Minor Feats Attack Potency/Strength * Defeated the Traitor Lord and his tribe of infected mantis warriors alongside Cloth * Can strike structures and enemies from overhead with enough force to propel itself upward Speed/Reactions * Outmaneuvered the White Palace's many dangerous and quick-acting traps * Kept pace with Nailmasters Mato and Oro, fighting both at the same time * Kept up with the quick and nimble Great Nailsage Sly Durability/Endurance * Survived the collapse of the Pale King's old corpse, which was as big as a building * Can survive falls hundreds of times its size, even at the very beginning of the game Skill/Intelligence * Completed the ritual of the Grimm Troupe * Bested the trials of the Colosseum of Fools * Conquered the White Palace, an absolute nightmare of perilous platforming challenges * Found and killed all three Dreamers to unlock the Temple of the Black Egg Powerscaling * Hornet (Fights and defeats her twice) * False Knight (Defeats him and his stronger dream variant, the Failed Champion) * Mantis Lords (Defeated the three and earned their respect) * Soul Master (Beat him and his stronger dream form, the Soul Tyrant) * Dung Defender (Defeated him and his stronger dream form, the White Defender) * Nosk (Beat it and its Winged form in Godhome) * God Tamer (Bested the duo of tamer and beast at the end of the Trial of the Fool) * Hive Knight (Defeated him after braving the depths of The Hive) * Grimm (Defeated him and his Nightmare King form) * The Hollow Knight (Brought it to exhaustion and, in some endings, completely usurped it) * The Radiance (Killed her in the true ending to the base game, as well as her Absolute Radiance form as the Shade Lord) Weaknesses * The Knight can only have so much Soul at once, and in battle, it must land hits to get more. This means its ability to heal with Focus and cast Spells is limited by how much Soul it has, creating a need to balance offensive tactics with health management. * If The Knight is defeated in base form, its shell breaks and its Shade is unleashed. The Knight's Shade is a mindless attacker, meaning that while it's much more ferocious and aggressive, it neglects tactical fighting in favor of straight-up offense. * The Shade Lord/Void Given Focus form requires all of the Void to come together. If The Knight can't call the Void to its aid, it cannot access this form. * Without the proper Charms and the use of Spells, The Knight is very limited at a distance. * The Dreamgate cannot be placed or activated if The Knight is in an area without a strong connection to the dream world. This means that it cannot place it in abandoned or desolate places such as The Abyss. * The Void can be controlled and restrained by great sources of light, meaning that The Knight's Shade and/or the Shade Lord/Void Given Focus could be weak to light exposure. Sources * Hollow Knight Wiki (General info) Versus Compendium's Conclusions Notable Wins: Notable Losses: Inconclusive Matches: Category:Hollow Knight Category:Team Cherry Category:Indie Game Characters Category:Darkness Manipulators Category:Sword Users Category:Flight Users Category:Soul Manipulators Category:Genderless Characters Category:Video Game Characters Category:Magic Users Category:Dream Manipulators Category:Mind Manipulators Category:Insects Category:Wall Level Category:Faster than Light